


Old Mackle the Hobbit

by tehhumi



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, If I slow down to edit I'll never post it so here it is, Maglor is an honorary hobbit, Scouring of the Shire, The Shire, a mix of diferent formats, i wrote this in one day, inspired by my own tumblr post, partially bullet points, partially script fic, un beta'ed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-14 07:19:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15383562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tehhumi/pseuds/tehhumi
Summary: Old Mackle Fenway might be a bit taller than most hobbits, but he's as proud of the Shire as they come.





	Old Mackle the Hobbit

Old Mackle Fenway lived not far from Long Cleeve in Northfarthing.  He fit in quite well there, for he was fond of food and song, had very polite manners, and dwelled in a well-lit hole he’d carved out himself.  He had a good respect for genealogy, even if he claimed that his own great-grandfather was unknown.  He would frequently sing at the inn, and quickly enough took to singing proper drinking songs rather than foreign laments.  He had a good respect for honest craftsmanship, but unlike the rare Man that came to Long Cleeve looking to trade, he didn’t ask why they built no tall towers or intricate machines. He was obviously one of the Big Folk to look at, but all of Long Cleeve felt Old Mackle was an honorary hobbit, and as he made no trouble the Mayor never heard of him. After he’d lived there a while some folk wondered if he might really be an elf, as the children he’d met when he first arrived had children and grandchildren of their own and Old Mackle looked much the same.  But elves were a thing out of fairy stories, and never came to the Shire, and general consensus said Mackle was just one of the Big Folk who was more sensible than most.

 

 

There were rumors of trouble in the autumn of 1418, but Old Mackle paid them no mind.  The trouble was all down by Hobbiton and in South Farthing, which he’d learned, after nearly two yen in the Shire, might as well be the other end of the Ered Luin as far as hobbits were concerned. 

Everyone was worrying as winter started, but no one’s stocks were being raided. The only food shipped out was from those who thought they had excess to sell some. Old Mackle went on half rations.  Not everyone would guess right on how much to sell, and might not notice until everyone’s stores were low.  He’d gotten by on less for longer than the few months it would take until spring came, and his neighbors would appreciate what he could share in the meantime.

When word came that mayor Will Whitfoot had been imprisoned, Old Mackle sighed.  He had thought he’d found a lasting peaceful place, after six thousand years of wandering between skirmishes with orcs and avoiding elves. But he couldn’t leave his leader in enemy hands again, for all that Lotho was unlikely to directly harm the fellow and Mackle’s allegiance to Old Will was tenuous at best.  Maglor had lost his sword fighting orcs nearly a thousand years ago, but he wasn’t too bothered; he didn’t actually want anyone dead.  He asked Freddie Proudfoot, his neighbor, to look in on his goats, and set off.

It was the easiest prison break Maglor had ever heard of. Neither Lotho nor any of his ruffians had noticed him quietly entering the storage area, and there had been exactly one locked door between the Mayor and the outside. 

 

  * When Lotho’s ruffians start trying to steal stuff, Mayor Whitfoot forbids all Men from anywhere west of the Brandywine, for the next year until they get this mess straightened out. 
    * Maglor is officially a hobbit, and takes a job in the Bounders. He’s the main enforcement on the procedure, leading to a lot of the ruffians waking up confused on the east end of the Bridge. Most of them learn by the second or third time this happens to stay out.
    * This leads to the Mayor peacefully resuming actual as well as nominal governance of the Shire, as much as there is any Shire Government.
    * Lotho is forced to pay for everything the ruffians damaged, and ends up selling Bag-End
  * When Saruman arrives in town, Lotho’s not in charge. Maglor, as a Bounder, is called to throw Saruman out.  Maglor song-duels Saruman with a banjo, wins, and realizes Saruman is actually powerless. He binds Saruman’s voice and imprisons him in the Lockholes (which never held any hobbits for more than a week, somehow). 
    * The Mayor asks why they don’t just throw Saruman out, and Maglor says he’s too dangerous to be left to roam free.
    * This whole situation is too strange for the Mayor, and he has no idea what to do, but it’s not like there’s a _hobbit_ being kept prisoner, so he leaves Maglor to it. Besides, by now the mayor is aware that Maglor fully capable of just conquering the whole Shire.
  * Maglor is aware that he should probably turn Saruman over to some authority but a) he’s heard rumors of some major Shit Going Down in the east, everyone’s probably busy and b) he’s not sure anyone will listen to his side of the story if the last son of Feanor shows up keeping one of the Istari prisoner.
  * Maglor is also aware that he probably can’t go back to being a simple farmer after this, but grazes his goats near Michael Delving where he’s staying to keep an eye or Saruman.
  * Enter Frodo, Sam, Mary and Pippin returned from the War
  * They go straight to Michael Delving rather than Crick Hollow, as the reports of what’s going on are less concerning, but weirder. A seven-foot-tall hobbit who threw out Lotho’s ruffians and made a strange Man mute by singing at him is concerning.
  * They ask Mayor Whitfoot, what’s happening, and after his summary, he directs them to Old Mackle. Frodo reads old books, and his foster-father Bilbo traveled with dwarves and even, it was rumored, with elves. He seems like a good source of expertise on Weird Shit from Outside happening in the Shire, the Mayor’s just gonna let Frodo handle this. 
  * Fellowship hobbits are all pretty good at recognizing elves after the year they’ve had. Maglor recognizes the emblems of Gondor and Rohan and thinks _Gondor and Rohan wouldn’t send soldiers this far from the front if the war was still going on, so I guess it ended and they won. Ooh! I bet Men won’t arrest me for kinslaying, and they can take over keeping Curumo imprisoned._  



Maglor: Hobbits in the armies of the Edain, how did that come about?

Pippin: So an elf in the Shire, how’d that happen?

Maglor: Hobbits are a very relaxing people, over all. I’ve been living near Long Cleeve for over two hundred years, and it wasn’t until last fall that there was any trouble at all.

Sam: If you were looking for someplace peaceful, why don’t you sail West with all the other elves, begging you pardon?

Maglor: Alas, the West is closed to me. ‘The Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains.’ I stay on these shores, and do my best to avoid getting involved in great deeds.

Pippin (wanting to get to the point): What’s all this about keeping a Man imprisoned, who gave you the authority? These lands are under the authority of the King now, and all Men in them are his subjects.

Maglor: Such great authority, a king of Men. I was a king myself once. Anyway, the reports were wrong, this is one of the Istari, not a Man, and therefore not under his purview.

Frodo (the only one who knows that ‘Istari’ means ‘wizards’): Wait, you mean this is where Saruman ran off to after he escaped the destruction of Orthanc? What would he want in the Shire?

Maglor: He had Lotho Sackville-Baggins in his employ, and I believe he meant to install himself as ruler here. If I bring Saruman to this King you mention, will he be kept imprisoned, or left to run amok? What right does the King of Rohan claim over the Shire, by the way?

Pippin: Not King Eomer of Rohan. King Elessar, the King of Gondor and Arnor. He was crowned this summer, and Elrond himself handed him his scepter of office.  And he knows full well about Saruman’s crimes, he fought the orcs of Orthanc himself. He’ll see that the wizard doesn’t escape.

Maglor: Well then, who I am I to disagree with so wise and ancient an elf as Elrond? I will gladly remand the prisoner Saruman to the custody of this King, I have no wish to be in the business of governing.

Pippin: I am a representative of the King, and accept custody of the prisoner on his behalf.

Frodo: Who are you, indeed. Old Mackle Fenway doesn’t seem like either Sindarin or Quenya to my ears.   _A star shines on the hour of meeting.  I am Frodo Baggins, at your service._ [This last is in textbook Quenya, as Frodo can recognize a translation of the Doom of the Noldor]

Maglor: You’re right, Mackle Fenway is what your people came up with when I introduced myself as Macalaure Kanafinwe of house Finwe, which they said was far too long. Tales of me in this land are mostly in Thindarin rather than Quenya however, so if you’ve heard of me, little scholar, it would be as Maglor Feanorian.

Frodo: Maglor Feanorian? The Kinslayer? The scourge of Sirion? They say you’re doomed to wander the western shores of Middle Earth forever, seeking the Silmaril you threw into the depths of he sea.

Maglor: Why does no one ever say ‘Maglor Feanorian? Author of the Noldolante? The greatest bard of all time?’ Yes, I’m that Maglor, and I wandered for a few dozen yeni, but there’s only so long even an elf can spend grieving.

Sam: Master Frodo, what’s going on? Why are you frightened, aren’t elves all noble and good?

Maglor: Is that what people say of us this Age! If I’d known that was the tale, I might have lived with Men instead, and not had to sew all my own shoes.

Frodo: Not all elves are noble and good.  Most of them are, but some kill others for gold and jewels, no better than Men or dwarves.  Maglor Feanorian, together with his brothers, led three kinslayings, in pursuit of gems called the Silmarils.

Sam steps in front of Frodo.  Merry and Pippin stand and flank him, their hands on their sword. Maglor remains seated in his chair.

Maglor: You oughtn’t be so hung up on kinslayings, really; they only count when it’s elves against elves.  If an elf kills a hundred dwarves, they’re not called kinslayer.

Merry: That’s your argument? There are others as bad you, so you are no threat?

Maglor: My argument is that I have never killed a Man, dwarf, or hobbit, and it has been over six thousand years since any elves died by my hand.  If I was as murderous as the tales portray me, all that would be left of the Shire at this point would be bloody fields and a handful of scared hobbits hiding in the hills. 

Merry: You could kill some, but hobbits are mightier than we look. I wounded a Nazgul, I could take you.

Maglor: You injured a Man who was kept alive by a combination of the power of my nephew and the servant of one my father cast from his doorstep. You might give me a fight, but you should not count on me being weaker than any foes you’ve faced so far.

Merry stepped forward at that, seeming ready to test the theory. Maglor reached for the table beside him, resting his hand on a banjo laying there.

Frodo: Peace!  We are here at the Mayor’s request to figure out what to do with Saruman, and Maglor, despite his crimes, is our ally in that.

Maglor: Indeed.  Master Took, I request to accompany you to take the Istari into custody.  I bound his voice, for though he is weak now his voice can still ensnare the unwary, but the binding will not last indefinitely unattended.

Pippin is opposed to the idea of travelling with an unpunished mass murderer.

Maglor claims that the he will accept any punishment handed down by those with proper authority over him, but the only ones in that category are the Valar and the High King of the Noldor. He is well aware that no one matching either of these descriptions is on these shores, but he’s being interrogated by people half his height none of whom have seen a full century, and is feeling petty.

Eventually they come to the conclusion that Merry will go find Gandalf where he’s talking to Tom Bombadil, and get him to deal with Saruman and Maglor.  Maglor says he will listen to Gandalf’s advice, and depart from the Shire as soon as Saruman is in the custody of someone who can prevent his escape.

 

A very awkward two weeks follow, as Frodo tells his companions, and the mayor, a slightly longer version of the story of Maglor Feanorian, and the mayor decides it’s best not to tell the rest of the Shire, as more unrest after the year they’ve had would be very distressing. ‘Old Mackle’ tells all his neighbors that he is, unfortunately, leaving very soon, and receives a lot of well wishes.  He also persuades Frodo to tell him a summary of the War of the Ring, which Frodo uses as a chance to practice Quenya with a native speaker. Sam spends the entirety of these sessions standing in the corner wearing armor and a sword, attempting to loom. He’s not very good at it.  

 

Merry returns with Gandalf.  Gandalf agrees to take Saruman to Galadriel, as she is ruling a kingdom and has the resources to keep him prisoner.  Maglor departs the Shire with them, but says he has no desire to visit his cousin.  He’ll accompany them as far as Rivendell before heading south though, it’s been ages since he last saw Elrond, and it would be nice to do so again before his foster son sails.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought of this will making a post about [Hobbits and Elves both having eyeshine](https://lendmyboyfriendahand.tumblr.com/post/176043512585/elves-who-saw-the-light-of-the-trees-have-it), and various elves' reactions. That got me thinking of Maglor reacting to hobbits, and how he would be 100% down for hanging with people who have no interest in violence, epic quests, kings, or elaborate jewelry. 
> 
> Still, he's not the type to just sit by as his home is invaded either, so he upsets Saruman's plans a bit.


End file.
